PS4 Exclusive Days Gone to Have Huge Story Focus

Not really suprised it’s Sony

I have never been so unconvinced by a big Sony game in my life.

I hope so, I'm still not convinced, and I still maintain that the open world genre is the worst possible format for a story-driven game. Horizon Zero Dawn was absolutely superb, but even that had really dull open world sections.

This is my most anticipated exclusive title this year...I can't wait to see what Bend delivers. And there are a lot of games I'm looking forward to this year, including exclusives GoW, Spider-Man, and Detroit. If it wasn't for RDR2, it'd top the list of all games coming out this year.

That's what I like to hear. Good and engaging story is what often makes or brakes open world games for me (not a coincidence that some of the best open world games also have good storylines to fall back on). Without it I feel no real urge to immerse myself and explore the world.

Im really lookin forward to this. Got it preordered.

Spoilers: Day's Gone is the prequel to Death Stranding.

Don't know why people are unconvinced. This is Sony, doing a single player story focused game- it's gonna be good.

I'm very excited and can't wait to see more.

I'd say "preorder canceled," but I wasn't looking forward to this to begin with.

I really want to see more of the open world wondering rather than just another trailer of the fun but stressful looking horde sequences. My fav part of open worlds is just mindlessly wondering! What else does the game have to offer i wonder.

This still remains as my most anticipated PS4 exclusive. I never even questioned its 'story' despite the fact its an open-world game. You wouldn't criticise games like H:ZD, Witcher 3 or Assassins Creed: Origins for not being 'story focused'!

Like other Open World Story based game, I do expect a lot of things to do - side quests, exploration, resource gathering etc maybe even planning on how you wish to proceed through the game - whether you want to sneak or attack, whether you opt to do so during day or night, what the weather is doing, even the way you approach objectives - inc the direction/path you take.

I like the fact you can also use 'hordes' to your advantage too or they can be a big hindrance but either way, it adds so much more to the dynamic feel of games like this and hands the control to us rather than following a set path through a game.

My two favourite games of 2017 were open world 'action' games - H:ZD and AC: Origins - neither 'suffered' on the story so I don't expect less from this...

It will take poor reviews to put me off shooting hordes of zombies.

@Fight_Teza_Fight @PhenomenalOne

Gameplay looks fine, but for me the fact it's about bikers is the sole reason I'm not convinced, as I have -50% interest in anything to do with american biker culture. Nothing I've seen makes me give a crap about these characters, unfortunately.

It's like some people are complaining about cutscenes on a game, is this a problem nowadays? Looks like this generation only cares about multiplayer games, for crying out loud.

@kyleforrester87 That’s the make or break for me - the game looks awesome but if the gameplay is as repetitive as following icons on the minimap to the point where I want to watch a movie on a second screen, then It is hard to endorse. That said, a lot of open world games recently have done a little bit better about this, and the wandering is actually often the better part.

there should be a 10 year ban on zombie games.

@PS_Nation Limited cutscenes that dramatize key story moments are fine, but I don't buy games to watch prerendered cutscenes play out for hours, so "hours of cinematics" aren't a draw for me. Although they're preferable to the Naughty Dog-esque "integrated cutscenes" where you hold up on the analog stick while characters walk slowly and gab incessantly.

@Ralizah Depends on the game. The Witcher 3 (DLC included) has hours of cinematics too, but the game is easily 250 hours if you want to complete everything, and the vast, vast majority of your time is spent playing the game.

''Hours'' of cinematics in an open world game don't mean a whole lot.

A western 1st-party Sony game with a huge focus on story? I don't believe you.

A strong story will maybe sell me on this. Because otherwise it seems it might be too similar to other games. And I have no particular interest in motorcycle gangs in and of themselves.

@Octane Sure, but most games aren't 250 hour epics. In that context, hours of cinematics isn't necessarily alarming, but it's certainly not a draw on its own.

@Ralizah Most open world games are 100+ hours these days. So if there's a few hours of cinematics, which probably includes optional conversation with NPCs, then I don't think it's something to worry about. If it's a 10-hour game with ''hours'' of cinematics, you have a point.

I have a good feeling about this game, thinking it will turn out pretty good. Bend will want to put a good foot forward just as Guerilla Games did.

Besides folks think a voice actor saying hours of cinematics is a 1 for 1 translation. There's alot of content recorded but doesn't necessarily mean it will all be included in the final product. Also to boot it's been said by the studio and Shu himself this will be a big game. Those who want to play up the cinematic talk will continue to do so and those who have interest will sit back as information is unveiled throughout the year.

@Ralizah Well, I disagree, I really like single-player games that focus on the narrative. Many people are like me as well and grew up with games like Metal Gear, Final Fantasy and many other jrpgs.

Not everything needs to be multiplayer without any kind of narrative or cutscene. If folks don't like single-player experiences with a cinematic experience, fine, but don't complain like every single game needs to be like all the generic multiplayer experiences out there.

@PS_Nation I don't know why you think that games either need to be driven by cinematics or multiplayer engagement. Single player games focused primarily on gameplay are also a thing. Games like Breath of the Wild, Mario Odyssey, Cuphead, Shin Megami Tensei III, Shadow of the Colossus, Dark Souls, Gravity Rush, Metal Gear Solid V, etc.

@Octane No, most open world games are not 100+ hour experiences. In fact, very few are. Bethesda RPGs, primarily. Linear Atlus JRPGs tend to take longer to complete than your average open world game.

this is in my top 5 games for this year hopefully we get a release date soon.

@Ralizah Many games are different and that's a wonderful thing, let's keep that way. Btw, many people complained about MGS V lack of narrative and the characters being dull. I prefer MGS 4 than the disappointing The Phantom Pain. I would also complain about many side-quests on Breath of the Wild focusing on collectibles and such, without a narrative or importance for the main story.

I see a trending on gaming of people, like journalists, complaining about single-player games, narratives on gaming, linear games, QTE's and goes on, at the same time they praise shallow multiplayer experiences still on beta like the beloved PUBG. Let's not forget that these are the same people who also said that consoles are dead. Anyway, many gamers still like narrative and cinematic on our games, not everything needs to be the same, that's all.

@PS_Nation No, I agree, not everything needs to be the same.

And I don't inherently have a problem with narrative-heavy experiences, I just think that there's an art to it. And, in particular, I feel like video games with pronounced narrative elements can still take advantage of the unique elements of the medium to tell stories in ways that would be impossible in other formats. As with games like Metal Gear Solid 2, Undertale, Eternal Darkness, etc.

This game could be great, but the fact that that the focus is always on stuff like "Look how many zombies are on screen!" makes me uneasy.

@KirbyTheVampire Did you see the second trailer from E3 last year? I believe there was a demo for the press also. They had a more in-depth showing with the effects of weather, day/night, and a focus on survival. Of course, the hordes were still a thing, but the focus was on using your environment to lure them to enemies, etc.